Debt free by 40 -- 19 Months and counting

StressedSteph

Ok as it's Sunday, I feel like I ought to try to plan out what I should be doing next week. Last week I lost all direction and spent most of it on here and playing with my new YNAB budget.

I have got lots of orders for my little craft business to complete and also my polytunnel that desperately needs clearing out ready for the new sowing season.

So I thought that if I try to plan out my days a little it will help to keep me on track.

Sunday
Finish Sock Monkey order
Meal plan for the week ahead

Monday
Food shop, + Animal feed + material for an order (Budgeted)
Tidy up.
Work on new orders

Tuesday
AM - Polytunnel
PM - Work on orders

Wednesday
AM - Polytunnel
PM - Work on orders

Thursday
AM - Polytunnel
PM - Work on orders

Friday
AM - Polytunnel
PM - Work on orders

Looks very repetative at the moment but I know I will have to add more or switch things about during the week,

Will work on polytunnel till 12pm, then have lunch and clean up to come and do some craft orders.

Will probaly finish the tunnel during the week and once that is done, all outside work will have to work around what the weather is doing. I refuse to garden in the rain ..

Hope you are all having a good weekend. Got to do a seriously clever menu plan in abit. I can only spare £50 for next weeks food, so I am going to list what I have already in the cupboards to try to make sure I menu plan what I already have. Got tonnes of meat in the chest freezer, so will work around that as well.

Seems very quiet on here today, but I guess people have lives to live. xxx

StressedSteph

debtfreeoneday wrote: »

You are so not bad for regifting a present, I've done it before.


I do a few survey sites, well three and get paid quite regularly from those. Maybe £100 - £150 per year.. But yes you're right it does take time.

Hi DFOD,
I am past caring on the birthday party presents really, I am just going to do the best I can. DD seemed perfectly fine with it, she did'nt want the drumsticks so they have gone to a good cause.

I sat down with my DD earlier and showed her my YNAB budget. she expressed interest so I thought I may as well give her a small insight as to where our money goes.

I showed her our wages coming in and then showed her all the different bills we have to allocate that money to next week and I also showed her the £38 that is left over after all the bills, food and fuel have been taken into account.

She asked if I could set her pocket money up on there, so she now has an account in my budget, she currently has £4.59. I told her that she could earn small bits of pocket money through the week, and when she gets paid, she can sit with me her to allocate that money into her savings account and watch the money rise.

I will do the same with my son when I have the chance. I never had a clue about money when I was young. I vividly remember hubby and I buying our first home and me being totally shocked that we had to pay for water. I thought that was free!!!!:eek:.

After the consistent way I seem to have been in debt my whole adult life. Only getting out of debt through windfalls and lucky breaks, and then getting straight back into the mess, because I hadnt learnt my lesson.

I don't want that for my children, I want to teach them how to manage money so they know there isn't an infinite amount of money available and how you have to budget and save to get nice things.

Will probably fall on deaf ears for a few years, but hopefully it will eventually sink in and I will prevent them from the misery we find ourselves in.

xxx

Rollercoaster_Rach

I completely agree with you...learning about money here has made me desperate to teach my children...They are know introducing learning about money in schools (new curriculum) which I think is excellent.

If only I could turn the clock back! LOL! but never mind...will just crack on and take it from here

RRX

debtfreewannabe321

I think that all of the DFW's kids will be the most savvy and money wise kids ever:rotfl: I also continue to tell my kids (mainly ds1 as he's 15 ) that everything should be saved for. Never get credit as it's evil not sure he's heard any of it! Guess the test will be when he turns 18 and is offered credit cards eh!

I've not been on here much today as been cooking all day. Hate cooking too but thought it was worth it for an easy week with everything ready made aside from the pasta dishes and jacket potatoes that is....! I do love to be lazy!

Wish I had a garden big enough for a greenhouse never mind a polytunnel:rotfl: I bet it's great growing nearly everything at home. I can't wait to move. I want chickens & a veg & fruit patch :T

StressedSteph

Evening,

I did'nt realise that they had introduced it into the curriculum Rollercoaster Rach, that is fabulous. Nice to teach mine now as well, as I know for certain that my Ds firmly beleives that the money pot is never ending and me saying no is just me being mean, not that we literally dont have the money. He's a work in progress.

Right, well I have just had my usual "Best way to do the food shop" inner arguement.

So I decided to work it out.

Nearest Sainsburys = 12 Mile round trip
Nearest Tesco = 20 Mile round trip
Nearest Lidl = 30 mile round trip

Then I looked at Tesco's Delivery Saver £7.50 per month for a mid-week shop.

That works out at about £1.88 per week delivery. I am figuring that even with slightly cheaper food at Lidl, I still won't be much better off after driving 30 miles.

So it seems that I will save alot of money and petrol by doing Tesco's Delivery Saver. Thankfully I managed to do this weeks shop for £40 and I had budgeted for £50. so I have managed to get that months delivery charge included.

If I have missed an obvious trick in my calculations please let me know. For £1.88 per week, I can't see how I can get my foods into the cupboard any cheaper. Bearing in mind I drive an old farm truck that drinks diesel like there is no tomorrow.

Ok enough gabbling. I am signing out xx

StressedSteph

debtfreewannabe321 wrote: »

I think that all of the DFW's kids will be the most savvy and money wise kids ever:rotfl: I also continue to tell my kids (mainly ds1 as he's 15 ) that everything should be saved for. Never get credit as it's evil not sure he's heard any of it! Guess the test will be when he turns 18 and is offered credit cards eh!

I've not been on here much today as been cooking all day. Hate cooking too but thought it was worth it for an easy week with everything ready made aside from the pasta dishes and jacket potatoes that is....! I do love to be lazy!

Wish I had a garden big enough for a greenhouse never mind a polytunnel:rotfl: I bet it's great growing nearly everything at home. I can't wait to move. I want chickens & a veg & fruit patch :T

Hi DFW,

Hopefully we are all raising a generation of money savvy kids. fingers crossed.

Well done you for baking all day, I can never manage to cook dinner in advance, but then I am home all day, So I guess I have time to do it bit by bit during the day.

It is great growing your own, but i do sometimes wish I just got it from Tesco, very hard work xxx

Puzzcat

Afternoon ss,


It must be lovely to live out in the country with all that land around you, but looking at the distance you need to travel to go shopping is :eek: Where I live I have Asda, Tesco, Morrisons, Sainsburys and Lidl all within 3 miles.. For you I think delivery is the way to go, plus you can see it adding up as you go along and remove things from the trolley that aren't necessary... you know the items I mean... the one's we never take out if we are pushing the thing round the shop... temptation is everywhere...!!


My purchase of the day.. 2 loo brushes.. £1.20... there is no excuse for a dirty loo brush when you live near a wilkinsons...!!


I have previously tried to grow veg - tomatoes, runner beans, peppers etc but always had my summer holiday in August - peak watering/picking season.. this year as my summer holiday is for 2 days, I may have another go...


Have a good week..


Love Puzz. xx

mizmir

You're being very organised thinking about the week ahead and calculating your best way to get groceries. Hats off to you - good work!

StressedSteph

Puzzcat wrote: »

Afternoon ss,


It must be lovely to live out in the country with all that land around you, but looking at the distance you need to travel to go shopping is :eek: Where I live I have Asda, Tesco, Morrisons, Sainsburys and Lidl all within 3 miles.. For you I think delivery is the way to go, plus you can see it adding up as you go along and remove things from the trolley that aren't necessary... you know the items I mean... the one's we never take out if we are pushing the thing round the shop... temptation is everywhere...!!


My purchase of the day.. 2 loo brushes.. £1.20... there is no excuse for a dirty loo brush when you live near a wilkinsons...!!


I have previously tried to grow veg - tomatoes, runner beans, peppers etc but always had my summer holiday in August - peak watering/picking season.. this year as my summer holiday is for 2 days, I may have another go...


Have a good week..


Love Puzz. xx

Hi Puzzcat,

Yes, it is a real shame living 30 miles from the nearest Lidl. We have a Waitrose coming 6 miles away but not very MSE.

Good price for loo cleaners. We have a Wilko but its on the 20 mile round trip . What I tend to do is save up a list of thing we need from BIG town as we call it, and then i don't feel like I am wasting tonnes of petrol, if I get lots of jobs done in one visit.
Can't tell you last time I went into BIG town though, don't think i even went at Christmas. #countrybumpkin hehe

I understand how going on holiday mid summer is pretty terrible for veg growing. As you said, give it a go this year. Think Wilko sell super cheap veg seeds. xx

mizmir wrote: »

You're being very organised thinking about the week ahead and calculating your best way to get groceries. Hats off to you - good work!

Evening Mizmir.

Thanks for nice comments. Trying my best to meal plan, as you can see our supermarkets are quite a long way away, and the little village stores round here are great, but SUPER expensive.
If I don't menu plan, I end up getting bits from these shops and it costs me a fortune.

I am being so tight lately. Hubby left a £1 coin in the bedroom window. I have snaffled it, as I have two thank you notes from the Children to post Monday. :o.

xxx

StressedSteph

Good morning,


After school run this morning I nipped to the local cash point machine to see if hubbys wages had gone into the new account. Success.
So I managed to put my £30 fuel in the car, I spent £20 on Pig feed and £10 on some fabric for an order I have.
Not a NSD but all budgeted for.

Hoping that my final letter from S#ntander will arrive today so I can get online. Now I am spending from that account, I really want to be able to track my outgoings with my YNAB budget, so I can start how I mean to go on.

I got a text from a friend this morning inviting me to watch The wolf of Wall Street at the cinema this week. I have allocated myself £10 for FUN money this week so I might say yes, hoping that she will drive. I love the cinema, I struggle to turn down invites for that.

Abit unsure what to do about B#rclays. I am desperate to delete the Direct Debits that are on the old account as worried companies might attempt to take the DD from the old account, but don't want to delete too early in case I muck up the transfer. The completion date is the 21st, tomorrow, so I might leave it till tomorrow and then delete them all.

What am I going to say to B#rclays?? I am really nervous about ringing them up and telling them that I have transferred banks? EEEkkk. Thinking of drafting a letter as don't think I feel strong enough to tackle the phone conversation.

Sun is shining again, I am desperately trying to focus today and get some orders completed, the quicker I get them done to quicker money will be coming in. xx

Have a great day xx